Editorial: Debit cards, slots should never mix

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 4:28 a.m.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but not every innovation that can be dreamed up by the fertile mind of man should be put into practice. A perfect example of an invention we will be better off without is a new technology, developed by a Las Vegas company, that enables gamblers to insert their credit or debit cards directly into slot machines and video poker games as they play. You don't need an advanced degree to understand the dreadful consequences of giving gamblers, whether occasional or compulsive, the opportunity to keep going by drawing instantly on their bank accounts.

As the Sun's David Strow noted in a story last week, the Las Vegas company plans to seek approval next year from state gaming regulators to license its invention to slot machine makers. Company officials say they have taken steps to answer objections about gamblers having too-quick access to their bank accounts: Before the player begins to gamble he would be required to set a self-imposed limit, and the card could no longer be used after the threshold was reached. But gamblers could sidestep this curb by setting high limits for themselves at the outset.

The gambler wouldn't have to take a break to get more money, time that actually could allow him to reconsider what he is doing. Instead, if this new technology were permitted, it would make it more likely that a gambler would lose money as he sits transfixed in front of a slot machine, a bad situation for all gamblers and a dangerous one for a compulsive gambler. "That credit card going in (the machine) is the switch going on for them, and they're not likely to stop until that switch goes off," notes Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling.

There already is a general belief that casinos don't do enough to discourage compulsive gambling. Despite a 1999 recommendation by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission that ATMs be banned from casino floors, they're still there. There also are the so-called "paycheck giveaways" that encourage Las Vegans to cash their weekly earnings at casinos, which makes it more likely that people can lose a healthy portion of their paycheck before they have a chance to bring it home. And then there are the free alcoholic drinks.

If this fusion of slot machines and ATMs ever reaches state gaming regulators, they should promptly reject it.